St. Joe’s Youths on Service Trip in Kentucky

During their service trip in the Appalachia region of Kentucky, 43 youths from St. Joseph Catholic Church in Libertyville will certainly encounter poverty.

An estimated 30 to 40 percent of the population in Inez, KY — which is where the students are staying this week — live below the poverty line, said Nancy Devroy, who is leading the group. Devroy said the students from Carmel, Libertyville and Vernon Hills High Schools will encounter people who have been laid off from the nearby coal mines. Some of the families the students will meet don’t have indoor plumbing or electricity, Devroy said.